Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-07-13
A WOMAN'S STORY.
How One Can Suffer Under the Russia
Government

government.
In Krapotkine's Russian and
French Prisons" will be found the fol
lowing thrilling narrative:
Nine. c., nee Koutouzoff, was
found guilty Of opening q school for
peasants children independently Of
the ministry of public instruction. As
her crime was not penal, and as, more
over, she was married to foreigner,
Gen. Gourko merely orders her to be
sent over the frontier. This is how
she describes her journey from st.
Petersburg to Prussia. l shall give
extracts from her narrative without
comment, merely promising that it's
accuracy, even to the minutest detail,
is absolutely unimpeachable.
81 was sent to WIlno with so pris-
oners-nen and women. From the
railway station we were taken to the
town prison and kept there for two
hours, late at night, in an open yard
under drenching rain. At last We
were pushed into dark corridor and
| counted. After many oaths and much
| foul language the fire was lighted, and
] found myself in g. spacious room IN
which it was impossible to take q step
in any direction without treading on
the women who were sleeping on the
floor. Two women who occupied
| bed took pity on me and invited me
to share it with them.
"When I awoke next morning | was
still suffering from the scenes Of yester-
| day, but tine female prisoners-assas-
sins and thieves-were 80 kind to me-
that by and by I grew calm. Next
night we were turned out from the
prison and paraded in the yard for
start, under a heavy rain. l do not
know how | happened to escape the
fists of the iailers, as the prisoners did
not understand the evolutiOns and
performed them under storm Of
| blows and curses; those who pro-
tested-saying they ought not to
be beaten-were put In irons
and sent to the train, in the teeth OF
the law, which says that in the cellu-
lar wagons no prisoner shall be
chained. Arrived at Kovno we spent
one whole day in going from one po-
lice station to another. In the even
ing we were taken to the prison for
women. Here | spent a week among
murderesses, thieves and women ar-
rested by mistake. Misfortune unltes
the unfortunate and everybody tried
to make life more toleraDle for the
rest; all were very kind to me and did
their best to console me. On the
previous day had eaten nothing, for
the day the prisoners are brought to
the prison they receive no food; so L
tainted from hunger, and the prison
ers gave me OF their bread and were
as kind as they could be. The female
Inspector, however, was on duty, she
was shouting out such shameless
oaths as few drunken men would use.
CATER q weeks stay in Kovno was
sent on foot to the next town. Alter
three days march We came to Marian
pol; my feet were wounded and my
stockings full Of blood. The soldiers
advised me to ask for q car, but pre-
ferred physical suffering to the con-
tinuous cursing snd foul Language of
| the chiefs. All the same, they took me
before their commander, and he re-
marked that [ had walked three days
and 80 could walk q fourth. We came
next to WolkOWsk, from whence We
were to be sent on TO Prussia. | and
| five others were put provldentlally IN
| the depot. The wOmen's department
was in ruins, so WeWere taken to the
mems.
81 did not know what to do, as
there was no place to sit down, except
on the dreadfuliy filthy floor. There
was even no straw, and the stencil On
the floor set mevomiting instantly.
Here [ spent two days and two nights,
| ~ 10 o. hnv nc
On the third day soldier OF the
depot, Jew, took me into his room,a
tiny cell, where he stayed with his wife.
The prisoners told me that many Of
them were detained 'by mistake for
seven or eight months awaiting their
papers before being sent across the
frontier. 1t is easy to imagine their
condition after a seven months stay
in this sewer without change OF
linen. They advised me to give the
taller money, as he would then send
me on to Prussia Immediately. But
l had been six weeks on the way al
ready and my letter had not reached
my people. Atlast the soldier allowed
me to go to the postoffice with his
| wife, and I sent g. registered letter to
ST. Petersburg" Madame c. has
influential kinsfolk in the capital, and
in few days the governor-general
telegraphed for her to be sent on in
stantly TO Prussia. "My papers (she
says) were discovered Immediately,
and I was sent to Eydtkunen and set
at liberty" 1t must be owned that
the picture is horrible. But it is not
a whit overcharged. To such of us
Russians who have had to do with
prisons, every word rings true and
every scene looks normal. Oaths,
filth, brutality, bribery, blows, hun
ger-these are the essentials of every
ostrog and of every depot from Kov-
no to Kamschatka, and from Arch
angel to Erzerum.